SA Majeste was one of the best backed horses for Cheltenham this week following the British Horseracing Authority’s publishing of ratings for Irish-trained horses entered at the Festival.

The Willie Mullins-trained six-year-old was one of only six Irish-trained horses to be given an identical rating to their Irish mark, against a collective average rise of 2.9lb. He has entries in the Coral Cup and Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, and is favourite for both those contests off the back of his defeat of Stayers’ Hurdle fancy Noble Yeats at Limerick over Christmas.

Gordon Elliott’s King Of Kingsfield is another Irish-trained horse who can race off his Irish mark at Cheltenham and subsequently has been backed for the County Hurdle. The most notable horses among those hit hardest include Popova (7lb rise) and Gabbys Cross (6lb) with the British handicapping team taking a positive view of the form of the Pertemps qualifier they finished fourth and second in at Punchestown in November (won by Jody Ted).

Waterford Whispers has attracted support for the Martin Pipe despite a 6lb rise. Black Bamboo and Western Fold were the other two horses to get the highest raises, 7lb each.

The Irish handicap chasers were given an average raise of 2.3lb (down from 3lb last year) but the Tony Martin-trained pair of Good Time Jonny and Read To Return were most notably given 10lb and 11lb rises respectively. Good Time Jonny, last year’s Pertemps Final winner, had been favourite for the Kim Muir at the beginning of the week but has drifted out since his mark of 142 was allocated.

The Gavin Cromwell-trained Perceval Legallois was next highest on the list with a 7lb rise, but still edges favouritism for the Kim Muir, while stablemate Letsbeclearaboutit has been supported for the Plate off a 1lb differential.

The average rise in ratings of the Irish horses entered in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle was also 2.3lb. The Mags Mullins-trained Spinning Web received the highest rise of 7lbs but still may struggle to get into the race off a mark of 116. The buzz horse of the week is French trained Milan Tino, who has been allocated a rating of 136 when running at Cheltenham earlier this year but can run off 126 in the Boodles.

Mark Boylan provides in-depth analysis of the handicapping of Irish-trained horses on page 23.